IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - December 2020 - 117

PERSPECTIVES
JENNIFER L. JEWISS, MOLLY E. BROWN, AND VANESSA M. ESCOBAR

Satellite Remote Sensing Data for Decision
Support in Emerging Agricultural Economies
How satellite data can transform agricultural decision making

T

his article considers the tremendous potential for
satellite remote sensing information delivered via
mobile digital applications to improve decision making in emerging agricultural economies. Earth observations have been available for use in weather and other
models to support decision making since the late 1970s,
with the launch of the advanced very-high-resolution
radiometer and the Landsat sensors [1]. Despite early
recognition of the potential for satellite remote sensing
to transform farm-level decision making, information
from satellite data is still not widely used by farmers
day to day except in highly mechanized precision agricultural systems that represent a very small minority of
farmers globally [2].
With the advent of cloud computing, high-speed Internet, expanding rural cellular coverage, and powerful
mobile devices, the potential to use Earth observations
for improving agricultural decision making is growing. However, two key issues are less well understood:
how information derived from satellite remote sensing,
delivered via mobile phones, is used and how it can
change agricultural outcomes outside Western contexts.
Digital agriculture is a new industry combining data
sources, such as Earth observations and weather data,
with advanced crop and environment models to provide
actionable on-farm decisions in low-income settings.
According to market research, the digital agriculture sector is expected to reach US$23.14 billion by 2022, rising
at approximately 20% a year [3]. This explosive market
growth is primarily attributed to the increasing demand
for higher crop yield, the growing penetrate of information and communication technology into farming, and
an increasing need for climate-smart agriculture.
This discussion focuses on organizations and individuals in agricultural value chains that are far from the

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MGRS.2020.3023343
Date of current version: 16 December 2020

DECEMBER 2020

IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE

data-rich environments of the United States and Europe
but still need actionable, high-quality information to
support decision making. A value chain is a series of activities conducted by a set of actors that transforms raw
materials into finished products, allowing for the generation of income. Figure 1 outlines how satellite remote
sensing information can inform decisions made by various actors at different points along the chain [4].
The challenge of feeding a growing global population with a constrained resource base and rapidly
changing climate underscores the need for enhanced
labor efficiency and higher productivity in agriculture.
In both high and low-income countries, digital tools
delivered via mobile devices increasingly offer opportunities for farmers to receive and respond to information. Given the growing global demand for food and
a persistent yield gap between low and high-income
countries [5], there is significant potential for relevant
information derived from satellite remote sensing to
transform decision making in agriculture [13]. Thus,
to inform the development of future products and instruments in the Earth science sector, it is imperative
to gain a better understanding of the use of satellite
remote sensing information for decision making in
emerging agricultural economies.
USES OF SATELLITE DATA WITHIN
DIFFERENT SECTORS
Satellite data have the potential to transform agricultural practices if they are made available to farmers
and other important actors along the agricultural value
chain in ways that support decision making in an accessible and effective manner. This is particularly true
in countries with infrequently updated agricultural
statistics and poorly developed supporting infrastructure-settings in which small farms dominate [9]. However, as the saying goes, " the devil is in the details, " and
many details must be understood and a host of practical
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IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - December 2020

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